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Retrieval and embeddings · Lesson 6 of 16 · 6 min

Check index freshness

Freshness compares the indexed revision with the source revision or update watermark. Wall-clock uptime does not establish that new documents were ingested.

Open the labCourse map
Mastery 0/3Run itExplain itApply it
learner@clairosSimulated AI Ops lab
learner@clairos:~ $
↑ history · Tab complete · Ctrl+C cancel · Esc, Tab to leaveExit 0

Understand the pattern

Freshness compares the indexed revision with the source revision or update watermark. Wall-clock uptime does not establish that new documents were ingested.

Interpret the evidence

Investigate the three-revision ingestion lag before answering from the index.

A tempting mistake

An index with long uptime must be fresh.

All names, measurements, prices, versions, and thresholds in this exercise are fictional training data. The evidence supports this bounded scenario, not a claim about a live provider.

Worked example and expected result
$ cat /opt/ai-lab/cases/aiops-retrieval-embeddings-006.json
{
  "fixture": "Fictional training data; not a live measurement.",
  "source_watermark": 42,
  "index_watermark": 39,
  "lag_revisions": 3
}

Exit status: 0. The command completed successfully in the training fixture.

$ jq .lag_revisions /opt/ai-lab/cases/aiops-retrieval-embeddings-006.json
3

Exit status: 0. The command completed successfully in the training fixture.

$ printf '%s\n' 'refresh-three-revisions' > /home/learner/lab/aiops-retrieval-embeddings-006-decision.txt
(no output; exit 0)

Exit status: 0. The command completed successfully in the training fixture.

Try a variation

Name the assumption that would have to change for “refresh-three-revisions” to stop being the justified action. Do not silently replace missing evidence with a guess.

Explain it

What does the evidence in “Check index freshness” justify?

Apply it elsewhere

A colleague concludes: “An index with long uptime must be fresh.” What should you do?

Keep the momentum.

Complete the lab, then explain and apply the pattern.

Next: Review retrieval resultsTry an incident drill

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Keep learning

  1. 01Inspect index statusAn index status must be read with document counts and readiness. A process being up does not guarantee that the index contains the expected records.Practice
  2. 02Review retrieval resultsRetrieval results should be judged for relevance, coverage and source quality. A ranking position is not a guarantee that a passage supports the answer.Practice
  3. 03Compare similarity scoresSimilarity scores are ranking signals under a specific embedding and metric setup. They are not calibrated probabilities of truth or correctness.Practice

Case methodology: evidence, limits, decision